Wednesday, 21 January 2015

spicing it up with seasoned pioneers.

spice up your life with seasoned pioneers blends from around the world. from mexican to moroccan and fenugreek to five spice, the lovely lot over at sp pride themselves on authentic mixes, individual ingredients and gourmet cooking sauces. they even come with a spice rating, from mild and sultry right through to explosive and even volcanic. their words, not mine. here's how i got on with a handful of their herbs and spices...

first up was the la kamablend, described as a mellow sweet, peppery flavour, great as a seasoning for soups and stews and excellent with chicken and in tagines.

with this i made a quorn chicken style tagine, which warmed up with kitchen as well as my belly with delicious morrocan spices. made simply with brown rice and stock, i added coriander and red pepper for colour and flavour. i've lent the rest of the pouch to my mum in the hope she will make me something delicious in the ceramic tagine i bought her for christmas.

as well as the incredible, i mean seriously incredible, mulled wine spice mix that i enjoyed a little too much of over the festive season, i also have made a fair few cardamom masalas. traditionally dry roasted to an authentic indian recipe, i just found out this is a cheat ingredient delia smith uses in her shami kebabs recipe. so, we are all forgiven.

this cardamom masala was again made with quorn chicken (i'm not even vegetarian i just love it in curries), mange tout, chopped tomatoes, plenty of coriander and natural yoghurt. alongside this i had a go at cauliflower "rice" which was infused with garlic, turmeric and coriander - a great low carb dish! i found this spice blend to be rather hot for my tastebuds, at a three chilli rating, although it was a nice heat that didn't linger and spoil the dish.

what shall i make next with the spices? do you have any favourite go-to blends or curry recipes? at £2.50 each and around 20 servings in a pouch you can't really go wrong!

note: i was sent a selection of spice blends for consideration. all opinions are my own and i wasn't expected to write a positive review or otherwise.